The present invention relates to the field of information visualization methods, and more particularly to the field of clustering information on a map.
A heat map is a graphical representation of data with values represented as colors or other visual symbols in a two-dimensional shape. Heat mapping gives the reader a representation of data that may be scanned visually to find “hot” and “cold” portions quickly and easily. Some heat maps are superimposed over geographical projections, such as temperature maps showing high and low temperatures across a region or political maps showing the frequency of voting for one party or another from state to state.
Imprecision is an inherent problem with geographical heat maps. While a heat map may give a general idea of the state of a mapped area, it may not sufficiently differentiate between closely positioned points due to spatial constraints or may lose detail and perspective if closely positioned points are combined.